PROS AND CONS
New York’s stop and frisk policy could be seen as both negative and beneficial. If the stop and frisk is
In the city where crime was at all time high during the nineties, the top politicians in New York City decided that something should be done to help stop crime. The NYPD implemented the “Stop and Frisk” policy to bring the crime rate down in the city. However it did more than exceed its expectations and it has been more of a negative than a positive. This policy created tension between the NYPD and the law abiding citizens of New York City because thousands stopped were people of the Black and Latino communities. According to the US Census Bureau NYC has a population of 8,336,697 people. Blacks and Latinos make up 53% of the city population. 85% of New Yorkers stopped are Black and Latino men and 6% of that number actually led to an arrest (NYCLU). At this shocking percentage, it’s apparent that this policy is discriminatory against Blacks and Latinos. Not only is this policy discriminatory, it has violated citizens constitutional rights and been deemed racial profiling.…
In New York, many pedestrians and loiterers have been stopped and frisked for no apparent reason. Bob Herbert’s article, “Hounding the Innocent,” states that more than forty-five thousand people have been stopped. The ironic part of this statement is that less than ten thousand arrests were made. The majority of these harassed citizens were Hispanic or black. These frisks are believed to be from racial profiling. Other incidents across the globe have made an impact on the society.…
‘In New York City 80% of the NYPD stop checks were of blacks and Latinos’ (Quigley). It is more common for African Americans to be checked, by making them lay flat on to the ground, in comparison to any other group in USA. Moreover, the fear of police shooting have made African Americans parents so much afraid of the police that they train their children’s to not stir during a police check and to slowly access driving documents while the hands still raised up. Still African Americans form biggest segment of population killed during police checks and most of the time the person killed is unarmed highlighting the injustice resulting from bias attitude of policemen against African Americans. ‘Therefore, the ferocious afro, the wearing of beads, teeth, fetish necklaces and the like always define a militant black radical. It is no matter that these outer camouflages for the black ego and devotion to retrospective glory are no more than a ghetto fashion. These are the stigmata of the enemy to the police’ (Wright). The 7:1 ratio of African Americans to white shot and killed by police that prevailed in the 1960s and 1970s clearly reflected racial discrimination by the police while during the 1990s this ratio was 3:1 (Samuel…
“Stop and Frisk” is a program put into effect by the New York Police Department that basically grants an officer authority to stop and search a “suspicious character” if they deem him/her to be as such. They don’t need a warrant, or see you commit a crime. 5They simply need to deem you “suspicious” to violate your 4th amendment rights without repercussions. Since its inception, New York City’s stop and frisk program has drawn much controversy stemming from the disproportionate rate of arrest. While the argument that the program violates an individual’s 4th amendment right of protection from unreasonable search and seizure could absolutely be made, that argument pales in comparison to the argument of discrimination. A disproportionate number of African Americans and Hispanics are unreasonably stopped and searched simply for looking suspicious. The original intention of this program was to reduce the level of crime (which it has) and to crack down on illegal weapons. It has now become an excuse for police to play with their authority and target innocent people.…
Over twice as many whites were caught with drugs or weapons inside the car than blacks (Engel and Calnon, 2004). In the study of racial profiling in Miami-Dade, research shows that 7.8% blacks were caught with drugs or weapons, and 13.2% of whites were caught with drugs or wither weapons. The Hispanics were in between the blacks and whites which was 10.1%. The use of data and research can be used to provide information on how blacks can either be either the criminals or the victims, which means they are not always the criminals. Police enforcement and those who are a part of the minority community feel as though profiling is a serious issue. To keep track of profiling, agencies must keep up with the behavior of their officers by keeping track of police records. In a 1999, Stop and Frisk study, by New York Attorney General’s Office reported that more whites get stopped and get arrested by law enforcement than blacks. Study shows that blacks were stopped 9.5 times, Hispanics were stopped 8.8 times, and whites were stopped 7.9 times (Gelman, 2007). In the recent years, the NYPD released recent data that shows that 508 -540 individuals were stopped but only 50 of out 436 were arrested. 85.7% of the individuals were black or Hispanics (Lee and Rivera, 2007).…
To what degree can ethnicity or race be utilized to target innocent individuals for stops, searches, and arrests? Although racism has always existed, through the past decade it has become more apparent. The United States has constantly fought difficult battles to put a stop against racism and discrimination. A numerous amount of faultless lives and liberties have been lost in search for racial equality. Unfortunately, racial profiling has become a more serious controversial issue in law enforcement practices that has reached public attention.…
Racial Profiling exists in today’s society. It has become a serious issue within communities. Racial Profiling can be defined as the practice of subjecting citizens to increased surveillance or scrutiny based on racial or ethnic factors rather than “reasonable suspicion”. Over the years, police and other law enforcement officials have come under fire for using this practice. The issue of racial profiling is determining whether it helps with preventing crime or does it just violate citizens and their rights. Despite what officials may think racial profiling doesn’t help fight crime it only contributes to the racial tension among police and citizens. It creates inequality for certain citizens.…
Racial profiling is a current, central, and controversial area of law enforcement. There have been many concerns and issues among the minorities, politicians, law enforcement administrators, and researchers about the police use of racial profiling. This paper discusses the issues of racial profiling, such as racial bias of police, which includes racial profiling of motorist, cyclists, and pedestrians. The issue of discriminatory treatment of minority individuals and minority neighborhoods will also be addressed. This paper also includes the impact of racial profiling upon minority communities, citizens, and law enforcement agencies. This paper concludes with suggestions on how to prevent racial profiling in law enforcement.…
In the article “Racial Profiling,” Kenneth Jost (2013) emphasizes the fact that Americans disagree whether minorities are unfairly targeted by police. For example, civil liberties and minority groups are pressuring police departments to eliminate racial and ethnic profiling. An African American have complained of the traffic stops seemingly for driving while black…
Stop and frisk was adopted from the English command law by many American courts. In accordance with English common law, without statutory provisions, a police officer has the power to stop, question, and frisk suspects given reasonable circumstances. Based on a standard, which holds less than probable cause, this power is granted upon the standard of reasonable suspicion. The whole theory behind stop and frisk in urban communities is the broken window theory which is if there are houses in the area that are abandon it can lead to young adults getting into mistress in order to avoid that police officer would stop and question these peoples were about. Over the years till present time stop and frisk has been…
Imagine your walking down the street minding your own business and suddenly you have an officer waving a badge in your face. The officer begins to feel you up and grope you. Grabbing whatever is in your pocket and tossing it around without concern. Stop and frisk is the controversial policing tactic when street cops looking for weapons and drugs stop and pat down civilians at random. Since 1968 the stop and frisk law has resulted in sexual abuse and racial profiling.85% stopped are Black or Latino; out of everyone stopped 82% were innocent of any crime. For young African American men, the constant threat posed by stop and frisk is a concern when leaving the house, walking around the neighborhood, and going out with friends. If they fail to show identification, obey orders from police or respond as expected, they can be harassed, beaten or worse.…
Bowling, B. and Phillips C., (2007) “Disproportionate and Discriminatory: Reviewing the Evidence on Police Stop and Search”. Modern Law Review. 70(6)…
A dominant group of research has shown that the stop-and -frisk has brought a huge issue regarding racial profiling (Alpert, Dunham, & Smith, 2007). Specifically, African American and Latino New Yorkers were overwhelmingly targeted for stop-and-frisk activity (Stop-and-Frisk, 2011). The activity of stop-and-frisk is an action that any police officer can partake in whenever they feel like they have the factor of doing so. Meaning that it is their initiative whether they would stop an individual or not (Avdija A.S., 2014). Some of the factors that trigger the initiation are: closeness to the crime scene, high crime area, and suspicious behavior (Lippman 2013; Ridgeway, 2007). Since not all the factors in the procedure of stop-and-frisk do not show a specific possibility of racial discrimination, the majority should not think that this procedure is harmful to anyone. It is certain that races relate with the number of police stops, but it should be known that there is another factor in performing this action other than race. All should consider age and gender which are two factors that also create an enormous influence on the officers’ initiative (Schafer, Carter, Katz-Bannister, & Wells, 2006). Therefore, the author hypothesizes that the police stop-and-frisk procedure serves as a great tactic for many police officers to lessen the crime rate and to be more aware of any danger that may harm people. Stop-and-frisk should be seen by many as a form of protection rather than a form of discrimination. However, the police officer who is responsible for taking this action must act in a way that a legal requirement is still being executed. The paper then discusses the decline of the crime rate due to the stop-and-frisk procedure, specifically in New York City. It then discusses the erroneous use of stop-and-frisk, as well as expressing how Fourth Amendment correlates with…
Racial profiling has been an issue in the United States since the beginning of time. Racial profiling is more of a problem today than before but has been a problem since slavery. The main target of racial profiling is African American males. It seems that the larger cities in the United State have this problems the most, for example, Los Angeles and New York. There are stories daily of racial profiling by the police in the United States. African American males are stopped in traffic stops more often than any other race. Police officers, just like a lot of people in society, stereotype African American men. The police believe African American men are most likely taking part in some type of criminal…
I am aware that here in New York we are surrounded by all types of people and of all cultures and races but why if this is so and we have our Constitution as it is written do we have to deal with this Stop and Frisk situation. I believe this is an invasion of space and privacy and that this violates our rights as citizens of this country. The Stop and frisk program is being done by the New York Police Department. They are stopping thousands of people and are searching for contraband and weapons.…